Sheeeee's in Sheeeee-cago!

Not to rub it in to you Texans down there sweltering in the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad heat, but it was 79 degrees when I took this picture and if you can't tell from that face, we are having a fantastic time.

You know the drill.  Name this picture.

Those ravioli-strawberry-suh-uh-merrrrr nights

Tell me what you think she’s saying here.

Little bit o’ sunshine

I am too busy, happy, stressed, anxious, excited, overwhelmed, underwhelmed and pooped to come up with anything to write these days.  I am a bad blogger, I know.  Kevin leaves for Chicago tomorrow morning and won’t be back until August so we have just been working on home projects and enjoying our days around here.  No worries, I start my job on Monday so there will be plenty of freak outs and procrastination blog writing to be had shortly.  Until then, here is a little Hobo enjoying her brief stint in a two parent household.  Have a great weekend, folks.

Future putt putt queen

FIRST day on the putt putt course: sunny, fun, so freaking hot we quit on hole 11.

Seeing Avelyn in her gold gladiator sandals having a blast outside: priceless.

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope you’re all enjoying your day as much as we are. Avelyn had her FIRST day at the pool!

PS - the wearing of sunglasses may be necessary while viewing this photo; don't let the whiteness scare you away. Hey, at least you can't see my legs.

Daily pick-me-up

Thank God for this perfect, precious face…

  …and thanks but no thanks to my cursed mosquito allergy!  Gah!

Daddy’s girl

This is the look on her face when she first saw Kevin pull into the driveway.  Guess I better keep him around.

You’re only 366 days old once

Party was a smash.  Photo filled fun to come.

A year ago

I was getting pretty big.  And loving it.

Short and sweet

Avelyn turned 11 months old yesterday!!! I can’t believe she will be ONE in four weeks.  I remember days not long ago when I reveled in her babyness but stumbled in a sleepless string of nights I thought would never end.  And now she’s almost walking and talking and sleeping through the night.  Sigh… 

Eating her favorite, a leaf, and her 11 months old sign.

I bought her birthday dress on Etsy tonight.  It is so, so, so, so cute and I can’t wait to see it.  You, unfortunately will have to.  I also ordered her one and two little DIY dresses that my grandma and I are going to sew.  Those I’ll show you because I’m dying trying to keep this whole party a secret.  Hmm, maybe I’ll give in and spill the beans… not tonight.  The blue/green is from me and the brown/purple is from my grandma.  I can’t wait to get them.

I work Friday/Saturday/Sunday 7a-7p, have Monday “off” and a test on Tuesday.  Please ESP me whatever energy you can spare.  I really, really, really need to do well on this test.  I’ll just say I did VERY poorly on the last test and leave it at that.  This class really blows.  On a higher note my group made a 92 on our Autism/Asperger’s paper I was editing the last few days.  Way to go group!

My joy

Love is all you need

82 days to Momma’s graduation!

 

At least she looks cute while I’m away

(check out the new kicks!)

83 days to Momma’s graduation!

Death by cilantro

Tonight at dinner Avelyn confirmed my worst fear -- that she finds the thought of a dead Momma really, really freaking hysterical. I was holding her on my lap and she was jumping up and down. When I went to inhale, a piece of cilantro (mmm) got sucked to the back of my throat and stuck there like that three year old mosquito on my windshield. I started hacking and coughing really hard and I couldn't catch my breath. I'm pretty sure my face looked like a tomato. What does Avelyn do? She laughs. HYSTERICALLY. Like I've never heard her laugh before. A full on, "hahahahehehuhuhuhehehehahahahahuhuhuhahahehehe!!!!!!!!". This of course made me laugh, which just worsended my hacking and coughing which made her laugh even harder which made everyone else at the table laugh.

I remember my MIL telling me about the first time Kevin laughed for real, and how beautiful it was but she could not for the life of her figure out what she did that was so funny. She tried for hours to do "it" again. Turns out it was some weird noise she made. I felt like that tonight. Avelyn has been laughing for weeks now but never in a real "OMG this is so funny this is so funny, I'm going to laugh until I -- uh oh I just peed on myself ha ha huh huh huh huh huh this is so funny" kind of way. For the record, it was SOOOOO funny. Man I love this baby.

Can you tell how much she enjoyed her first pancake? It was an awful lot.

Oi with the poodles already!

Currently I am watching my daughter cry on the daycare WebCam. It might be funny if it weren't my child but since it is it's just sad. Of course, being a first time-first week daycare Mom I called to make sure she was okay and find out just how long she'd been crying. The answer -- ALL DAY. Apparently she will play on the floor for five minutes at a time and then cry for somebody to hold her. The teachers have been really patient and loving and I've seen them take turns walking her in the hall, rocking in a chair, sitting in their laps which makes me feel a lot better. Her whole world has turned upside down this week and I know she is just getting used to the place. In a week or two she will be just fine.

Oh yeah, I was just reminded by my poltergeist to tell you there is a poltergeist in my house. He's kind of lame but clearly has some message to get across.

Anyway, I love this WebCam. I don't know how these women do it, 12 hours a day keeping all those babies busy. They are simultaneously feeding with the hands, rocking with a foot, singing to the rest of the group...very impressive. I am so thankful we've found a place that so far exceeds my expectations of what a daycare is.

• • • • • •

I have to apologize for my lack of pizazzy posts recently. For some reason I have just been writing the most boring and dumpy posts. Not feeling too creative these days I guess. My baby moved away, I'm way behind on work and I'm packing up the apartment to move at the end of the month. Ugh. I HATE packing. Luckily I kept all the boxes from the last move and it's moving along speedily. [Update: I'm moving to live with my grandparents for the rest of the semester. We decided since Avelyn's daycare is about as much as our rent was costing, we would cut our losses and get out of this place. We could barely afford to live here, why stay in this dump by myself? Plus all of the troubles we've had with this place have put me over the edge. Grrr.]

I still haven't heard from my High Acuity L&D preceptor. Her mother died a week ago and I haven't wanted to bother her about getting to work but I really need to get started. I guess I'll try to call tomorrow. Today my brain and body are zapped from the looooooong day of Community Health clinical. Who knew sitting in a room for hours on end discussing our plan to make fat people that like to eat thin could make you want to go home and gorge yourself on strawberry cupcakes? I knew. And I did it anyway. Way to set an example, Momma.

You know, it just crossed my mind that maybe all the funny left the house with Avelyn. I haven't written one humorous thing since we decided to move her. Could it be that the source of my hilarity lies in my uterus? That the connection my uterus felt to Avelyn is no longer available with her 205 miles away? What would that mean for my future? When she moves away for college will I turn into a sad, frumpy lump of not-funny woman? I mean I guess if I have more kids the funny will come back but for how long? These are things that I waste my time thinking about. It's a wonder I never get anything done.

Here's your daily Hobo.

PS - don't ask to see the WebCam. You're not gettin' it.

91 days to Momma's graduation!

Baby blues

Happy New Years Eve!

Happy New Years from My Little Ladybug!

Oh by golly

We're gonna have a holly jolly Christmas, this year!

Momma's Little Helper

Moments like these...